Regulated Swedish market shows further decline
H1 revenues down 3% year-on-year despite World Cup boost to sports betting as online poker continues to struggle
Sweden’s regulated gambling market has shown further decline in H1 2014, with revenues shrinking 3% year-on-year following decreases in casino and poker verticals continuing the decline recorded during the regulator’s Q1 results in May.
According to figures released by the Swedish Gambling Authority (Lotteriinspektionen), gross turnover for the first half of the year stood at SEK19.3bn (£1.6bn) while gross gaming revenue slipped 11% year-on-year to SEK7.8bn (£678m).
Joakim Rönngren, communications manager at the Gambling Authority, said the Swedish market was a “slow process for most players” noting that Svenska Spel, the country’s monopoly operator, saw revenues dip 5%.
Svenska Spel’s poor performance came despite a 20% surge in sportsbook revenues during Q2 to SEK2.9bn (£252m), driven by this summer’s World Cup, with the firm’s online poker businesses dropping 11% in the period
Last month Svenska Spel revealed its H1 profits had slumped 6% despite online revenues rising 5% year-on-year and CEO Lennart Käll confirmed that the monopoly had applied to the Swedish government to launch an online casino.
Käll claimed online casino games had taken 7% of the Sweden’s market, which not only drained revenue from the regulated market but also put players at risk.
Elsewhere in the Swedish market total revenues at horse racing operator ATG fell marginally to SEK6bn (£521m), however the firm’s business continued to migrate more towards online betting with the channel up more than 6% year-on-year.
The only two products to report marginal gains were Sweden’s postcode lottery, which saw revenues rise 1.3% despite an 8.2% drop in online sales, and its combination number games, partly driven by a 37% surge in online turnover.